Page 73 of Thorns of Silence

DANTE

Aclock ticked. Ice clinked in a glass. Windows fogged.

The temperatures in Trieste had plummeted over the last week, January being one of the most brutal months Italy had seen in the past decade.

It had been a week since Romero’s phone call, and now he sat across the desk from me, occupying the chair in front of it while cigar smoke hung in the air. Father’s untimely death had interrupted both their plans. It would seem the two of them had arranged a marriage a few years back between my woman and Amon.My woman!How fucking dare they promise her to anyone other than me?

Thankfully, something happened, and an amendment was made, changing the name in the agreement to be Reina.

Amon and Reina would be good. Phoenix and I would be even better.

A certain distaste emanated from Romero. The fucker didn’t like me, and the feeling was mutual. It wasn’t just one thing that made me dislike him, it was a combination of a lot of things—his weakness, his incompetence, his betrayal of the woman who raised me, the fact that he didn’t shoot my father when we were kids. The list went on and on.

Yeah, my grudges held.

He could have ended my father when his girls shattered that ancient vase during that stupid party so long ago, but instead, he’d taken the high road. Fucker! He left us to suffer Angelo Leone’s cruelty for another decade.

I leaned back with one elbow on the armrest, waiting for him to speak. Since the Omertà meeting, he’d reached out twice, and now I knew the reason for his anxiousness. Well, there could be only two potential reasons.

First, the marriage agreement. Second, the possibility that his daughters had been the last humans to see my father alive. It made no fucking sense why he’d visit us or who would be taunting me with video clips of that night.

The silence stretched for a while after we both sat down, the tension building, and I fucking thrived on it. Let it fucking explode. Truthfully, I enjoyed the atmosphere. So, I waited and let him sweat.

“I want to ensure the arrangement stands.”

Ah, there it was.

My gaze found Romero’s through a haze of smoke. “Arrangement?”

He let out a sardonic breath, shaking his head. “Cut the shit, Dante. You know what I’m talking about and you know this will be beneficial for your family.”

My jaw clenched, but I kept it together. I hated being called out on my shit almost as much as I hated being told what was best for me and my family. It would have been beneficial if this fucker hadn’t screwed over my mother, but did you hear me telling him that? Fuck no.

“I don’t think you have a say in what’s good for my family, Romero. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you need this more than the Leone family does.”

After all, he was the one without a son. He was the one who needed protection for his daughters.

“So you’re going to fuck me over?” Technically, my father fucked him over by changing the agreement, and he fucked up by agreeing. I needed to know why. Before I signed anything, I’d learn why.

“Your words, not mine,” I deadpanned.

Romero puffed on his cigar one last time before putting it out, his expression contemplative. “Your father wanted to change the name from Phoenix to Reina. I agreed, and we swore to each other in blood. But when it came up, my lawyer wasn’t available to formally alter the agreement due to the holidays.”

“Why did he want to change it?”

He shrugged. “He said it was a better fit, and he didn’t like Phoenix…” He trailed off as his gaze settled on me. The way he was stabbing his cigar into the ashtray told me he didn’t want to say whatever was coming. “He didn’t like her disability.”

I stared at him with indifference while my chest twisted with aversion. If he’d told me—admitted—at this moment that he shot him because of that, I would have shaken his hand and signed off on the change. But he didn’t. He discounted his own daughter.

Granted, it was the same daughter who’d shot me. Minor fucking detail. She’d love me… eventually.

“We put Phoenix back on the table—”

He cut me off before I could finish the statement. “I’m not putting Phoenix back into the agreement,” he gritted, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

“Why not? You had her in there originally.”

My mind whirled as I pondered the ways I could get what I wanted out of Romero. I wanted Phoenix. She was my vice. I thrived on challenges, but this was different.